Obstacle collision caused by either a controlled flight into terrain or colliding with another aircraft is a recurring problem for both commercial and military aircraft, even with a ground avoidance system and/or an air avoidance system installed in the aircraft. The probability of encountering obstacle collision problems increases when military aircraft operate in a tactical environment (e.g., fast tempo, low altitude, mixed mode operations). Additionally, the probability increases for all aircraft in congested airspace and/or poor weather conditions.
Many of the ground and air avoidance systems are stand-alone systems with no cross-domain correlation of collision avoidance information. As a result, the guidance and collision avoidance information provided by these systems may be contradictory. A pilot that receives contradictory information may be confused and have to respond to a potential collision situation without the use of these aids.
Collision avoidance systems have been improving. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,269, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, describes an embedded free flight obstacle avoidance system. The system can filter data produced by ground and air collision avoidance modules, and generate coherent avoidance control guidance. As the data from the collision avoidance systems have been improving, it would be beneficial to present this data to the pilot in a manner that allows the pilot to easily recognize potential obstacles and provides obstacle avoidance guidance.